Mary Jane Holmes was an American writer living in the last half of the 1800's. She began teaching school at age 13. Her novels centered on domestic life. Holmes lived in Kentucky for two years and in 1856 she wrote she first novel, Tempest and Sunshine. The story begins: "It was the afternoon of a bright October day. The old town clock had just tolled the hour of four, when the Lexington and Frankfort daily stage was heard rattling over the stony pavement in the small town of V----, Kentucky."